Wasteland Border Inspector

Chapter 45 Barometer: Signs of Great Chaos!

Having gained experience in mastering the skill, Cheng Ye dared not be careless this time when switching to the level 2 talent.

Before even entering the main urban area, I called Uncle Dong to ask if there was any more nutritional supplement.

Perhaps because the morning rush to buy goods almost caused a major riot, the Public Works Department unusually replenished the stock in the afternoon and strictly ordered all shops to sell at a unit price of 2 dollars. If anyone is found to be reselling at a higher price, they will be fined ten times the amount at the very least, and their sales permits will be revoked at worst.

"I've got six boxes here, don't worry, there's plenty."

"it is good."

Uncle Dong's voice sounded a little strange on the phone, but Cheng Ye didn't have time to think about it.

As soon as we arrived at the entrance between the suburbs and the main city, we saw that sandbags had completely blocked the road, leaving only a narrow gap.

Looking up, the dark clouds on the horizon were slowly dispersing, and it didn't look like a downpour was about to begin.
wrong.

Cheng Ye strode closer, his heart sinking slightly.

The previous road closures were only to limit traffic flow, and the guards at the entrances and exits were only there as a deterrent.

But now, there are six heavily armed guards on high alert, and there are even more people setting up guns behind them, the dark muzzles of guns hidden in the gaps between the sandbags, exuding a chilling aura that keeps strangers away.

"Stop."

Seeing Cheng Ye jogging over, the guards exchanged glances and immediately stepped forward.

"A curfew is in effect in the main urban area; no one is allowed to enter or leave."

"Anyone?" Cheng Ye asked expressionlessly, pulling out his identification badge from his pocket. "Am I anyone?"

The guard was taken aback for a moment, then quickly took the badge and swiped it on his defense pass.

Upon seeing the information displayed above, his tense expression instantly relaxed. "Prosecutor, please come in. Of course, you are free to come and go as you please."

"what happens?"

"I don't know. It's an order from above."

The guard hesitated for a moment, then pointed towards the inner city, "And it was an emergency order issued more than half an hour ago."

"Unexpected?"

No wonder there weren't any sandbags blocking the road when I took the bus to the chemical plant residential area.

Could something serious have happened?

After crossing the cordon, Cheng Ye quickened his pace again, realizing that something was wrong.

When we got back to the entrance of the residential area, the large meat canteen had turned off its lights early, which was unusual for them. Not only had they not prepared any ingredients for the next day, but they had also reinforced two windows with iron sheets, as if they were preparing for a typhoon in a coastal area.

Uncle Dong's shop was lit up, but the roller shutter door was half-closed, leaving only a gap big enough for half a person to enter.

"Uncle Dong." Cheng Ye knocked on the shutter door.

"Don't just stand there, come in quickly."

His voice betrayed obvious tension.

Cheng Ye crouched down and slipped inside, closing the roller shutter door behind him.

The flooded counter has been put back in its original position, now empty; the flooded goods have been removed.

Uncle Dong sat behind the counter, with three guns on the counter.

One long and two short.

The long ones are assault rifles, and the short ones are shotguns and pistols.

The rifle had been disassembled, and next to it was an open bottle of gun oil, emitting a pungent smell.

"What are you"

Cheng Ye was stunned. This was the first time in three months that he had seen Uncle Dong like this.

His usual kindness had completely vanished, replaced by a menacing and ruthless aura.

"Did Station Master He of the Central Station die in the line of duty?"

"You knew already?"

Cheng Ye was not surprised. The sacrifice of the checkpoint chief in the buffer zone was no small matter. Even if the news could be temporarily blocked, there were too many people watching, and it could only be kept secret for a day or two at most.

It's not surprising that a veteran like Uncle Dong would have channels to find out in advance from other places.

"Around noon, we were attacked by an unknown infected entity."

"Has the infected body that attacked Station Chief He been captured?"

"Ok?"

Now it was Cheng Ye's turn to be stunned. "These kinds of things need to be investigated thoroughly before they are announced. I suppose they've been caught."

"If you don't even know, then it doesn't exist."

Uncle Dong's gaze was as deep as an ancient well, and his voice trembled slightly. "The last time a station chief was killed was thirteen years ago. Since then, the buffer zone has been in chaos for two months, with at least three-digit numbers of infected people sneaking in."

"And they are all unknown infected individuals."

Don't scare yourself.

Cheng Ye's heart skipped a beat, but he reassured her, "I was on duty at the North Station today. How could I not know whether there were any infected people who had infiltrated?"

"It's different. You deal with external matters, but internal ones."

As Uncle Dong spoke, he opened his defense communication device and switched to the information interface.

Cheng Ye glanced at it and was immediately stunned.

【Winter-4】

[A ghost was knocking on the door; it has been quelled. See you at the venue.]

【June 28, 21.07】

?

June 6.28th is today.

21.07?

Isn't that right?
A scene immediately flashed through Cheng Ye's mind: after seeing Dai Zun off, he casually glanced at the Defense Communication Device.

The value above seems to be 21.02?

"Sent by an old comrade-in-arms."

Uncle Dong was not surprised by Cheng Ye's reaction, but he sighed deeply, "Just over an hour ago, the Gate of Happiness was attacked by the infected."

"what?"

Cheng Ye was shocked; his first reaction was disbelief.

But the next second, the hairs on his body suddenly stood on end, and a chilling feeling, like thorns on his back, instantly spread throughout his body.

Memories flashed back rapidly.

When he escorted Dai Zun to the Gate of Happiness, there were indeed many prying eyes in the shadows. He even glared back at some of them. Could it be that the owners of those eyes weren't ordinary vagrants, but...
"We failed to break in, but there's a high probability that a significant number of infected individuals have already infiltrated."

Uncle Dong continued speaking to himself, his hands assembling the gun barrel without slowing down at all, "You should understand the principle of 'the darkest place is under the lamp.' When it comes to external inspections, no one else is as professional as you prosecutors, but when it comes to the slightest disturbance in the buffer zone, we old cowards understand it better than anyone else, and we know what the consequences will be."

"Yes, although many people in the buffer zone are envious of the inspector's status, everyone knows in their hearts that the inspector is the barometer of the buffer zone. Once you start to suffer casualties, chaos in this place will probably come very soon."

Click.

After the rifles were assembled, Uncle Dong took aim in the air and gestured towards the corner near the entrance. "Six boxes. Take as many as you want. Same as always, it's on me. There's a key in the top box. It belongs to my shabby shop. Take it. If anything goes wrong, you can hide here. I've reinforced the basement. It should hold out for a while so you can call for help from the checkpoint."

"Also, there are six high-explosive grenades under the fourth floor tile in the basement. They are specially made and can blow up the big meat canteen next door without any problem. Don't throw them away unless it's particularly dangerous."

"You're going to hide outside?" Cheng Ye was taken aback, then turned to look at the door. Sure enough, there was a long-handled key on the box.

"It's not about hiding, it's about going to fulfill a wish."

Putting down his rifle, Uncle Dong sighed, "When people get old, they're usually terrified of death, but when it comes to something like this, they're not afraid of dying at all. I might have to close down for a long time."

I carried three boxes of nutrient solution back to my room.

Cheng Ye locked the door with his hand, but the flimsy bullhead lock just wobbled on the door frame, offering no sense of security whatsoever, but rather making people feel uneasy.

"Damn it, how come the wasteland is in such a mess since I transmigrated here?!"

"It's only my first day working at the fast checkpoint, and I'm fine, but why does it feel like the sky is falling in the buffer zone?"

Cheng Ye grumbled and cursed, but he knew perfectly well that this mess had nothing to do with him.

The celestial chaos had already begun before he transmigrated, and the last instance of chaos could be traced back to the time when the station chief on duty sacrificed himself thirteen years ago.

The wisdom passed down from our ancestors is indeed true: whenever there is a natural disaster, there will inevitably be great chaos.

Happiness City's migratory bird model can indeed attract the attention of most infected people in the summer and autumn by using the factory area, leaving only a small number of them to be brought in by the migrants to form a buffer zone.

However, once a natural disaster strikes, this system will immediately fail, and a sudden chaos will break out because many people will let their guard down.

call.

A gust of wind blew by, slapping against the window and making a creaking sound.

Normally, Cheng Ye wouldn't have cared at all, but now he felt inexplicably terrified, instinctively gripping the short knife at his waist, and the greedy eyes in the shadows in front of the city gate flashed through his mind again.

This damn buffer zone is definitely not safe at all; no wonder everyone is scrambling to get into the inner city.

In peaceful times, it's fine, but when danger strikes, they become extremely paranoid.

"We can't do this anymore. We'll buy materials to reinforce the doors and windows tomorrow."

Cheng Long was a workaholic who lived and worked at the checkpoint, so he was unable to leave behind any property.

This single room was assigned to him by the checkpoint, and the previous owner did not make any modifications.

Before, Cheng Ye was busy preparing for the assessment and had never thought about reinforcing the house.

But now it needs to be put on the agenda!

Having 3 action points might not be enough to modify other objects, but it should be sufficient to reinforce doors and windows.

After moving the table to block the door, Cheng Ye called Luo Xiaoxue again to explain the situation.

"Why don't you move in with me? Your brother B has reinforced my house many times, it's absolutely safe."

"No need. If things get chaotic, we'll have to go on duty and check things. Going in and out like this will only attract the infected to you and Yi Yi."

Luo Xiaoxue didn't try to persuade him any further, clearly knowing that Cheng Ye was telling the truth.

It wouldn't matter if she were alone, but with Yi Yi at home, it's definitely not safe with people coming and going.

After hanging up the phone, Cheng Ye thought for a moment and simply moved the bed behind the door.

This way, if an infected person tries to break in while he's sleeping at night, it will immediately wake him up.

"Iron Body, you'd better step up your game!"

As Cheng Ye thought to himself, the collector panel automatically expanded, redirecting him to his personal interface.

First, look at the bottom; the ratings are unchanged from before.

Only behind the skill bar, there was a small purple frame that shone with a faint light.

"Equipment, Iron Body!"

The moment the thought was uttered, the small purple frame suddenly emitted a faint light and bounced from the candidate list to the skill list.

Hmm, is there no reaction from the level 2 talent?
It's not like a skill; when you equip it, a memory is suddenly forcibly crammed into your brain, creating wisps of hallucinations.

The equipment of talent, like beast instinct, is subtle and gradual, without any noticeable change.

But this didn't bring any bonuses, did it?

Cheng Ye was momentarily distracted, his gaze suddenly meeting the reflection in the window.

The still somewhat youthful face in the reflection was now burning red, as if magma was surging beneath the skin!

The veins bulged out in a dense, prominent pattern, running from the neck all the way to the scalp.

It made him less like a normal person and more like an infected person, like a ferocious red-skinned monster!

"What am I?"

There was no time to think, let alone feel the changes in my body.

boom!
A muffled thud exploded inside his body, as if millions of tons of explosives had detonated simultaneously.

It's nothing like the peaceful state of being equipped with skills.

Cheng Ye felt dizzy and disoriented, and the surrounding scenery shattered into blurry light and shadow.

It felt like being thrown into the eye of a storm, with your internal organs being frantically shredded and reassembled.

just.

Does it hurt?

No pain!

Is it cool?

Cool!
An indescribable feeling washed over me in waves, as if I were in a kayak, tossed and turned on the waves.

Under this extreme impact, strange hallucinations surged forth like a tide:
He saw a clear spring suddenly gush forth beneath the dried-up, cracked pond, nourishing every inch of the parched land.

The ground trembled violently, the soil churned and rose, and a small hill slowly emerged from the earth like a sleeping giant.

Deeper into the soil, a tender sprout was pushing through the loose stones, inch by inch, stubbornly pushing its way out of the hard ground!

Everything is different now.

It seems that something within the genes has been awakened.

The insurmountable chasm between the gifted and the ordinary could now be easily crossed with a single step.

"The changes brought about by the iron body are truly more dramatic than I imagined."

After a while.

Cheng Ye propped himself up on the bedpost, his face pale. All the strange phenomena on his body had disappeared, leaving only wisps of heat rising continuously.

At this moment, the pain sensation has been compressed to only one-tenth, and the dullness of sensation has almost completely disappeared.

He thought he would find it very difficult to get used to, but in reality, the opposite was true. The nerves that were originally used to process pain seemed to be stripped and reorganized, and were able to be used to capture and process other information, making his five senses more acute than ever before.

such as
He reached out and picked up the training knife beside him.

The moment my fingertips touched the hilt of the knife, a strange sense of "perfect integration" surged into my mind.

With a slight twist of his wrist, the short knife traced a silver arc, then suddenly slashed upwards, a cold light bursting out along the trajectory, sharp as frost.

The sword strikes move entirely at the whim of the user, as if controlled by an arm.

An unprecedented sense of exhilaration rushed to Cheng Ye's head, as if he had been holding this knife for more than ten years, and every angle of the swing and every trajectory of the force exerted was engraved into his genes, as natural as breathing.

Is this the world of geniuses?

　P.S.: Here's a 3.8K word summary. Don't say it's too short anymore! Please vote and keep reading!
　　PS2: During the new book period, I really can't update too much. I'm limited to a maximum of two chapters per day. I can only try to expand the length within those two chapters. As you readers can probably see, each chapter of my book has many more words than other new books, and some chapters are almost twice as many.

　　PS3: The author is committed to correcting mistakes. If there are any common-sense errors, please point them out and they will be corrected immediately. No arguing or being stubborn!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)